Air Canada lets flight attendants avoid Boeing 737 Max flights

Rescuers work at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday, March 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

The union for Air Canada flight attendants says the company is allowing flight attendants who don’t want to fly on Boeing 737 Max airplanes to be reassigned, and the union says they want that option to continue.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees issued a statement Tuesday asking the company to put the safety of passengers and crew first, following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed all 157 on board.

Wesley Lesosky, the president of the union’s Air Canada component, says the union is calling on the airline “to at a minimum continue to offer reassignment to crew members who do not want to fly on this type of airplane.”

Before clearing his schedule to meet with experts, Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he has no plans to ground Canada’s fleet of 737 Max aircraft, but that “all options are on the table.”

Meanwhile, Boeing’s CEO has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump and voiced his confidence that the plane maker’s 737 Max is safe.

The call came as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration continues to back the airworthiness of the 737 Max despite a growing number of countries grounding the aircraft.

The FAA says its review has so far not turned up any basis for grounding the jets.

CEO Dennis Muilenburg spoke with Trump and expressed “his confidence in the safety of the 737 Max.”

The White House confirmed the two talked but did not disclose the content of the conversation.